Knitting needle



July 8, 1941. F, CRUM 2,248,341

KNITTING NEEDLE Filed March 29A, 1939 Patented July 8, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT Y OFFICE KNITTING NEEDLE FlorenceE. Crumb, Harvard, Ill.

Y application March 29, 1939, seria1N0.264,so6 'l 9 Claims. (C1. 66-117 This invention relates to stitch holders. As is well known to those skilled in the art there are times in knitting when it is impossible to continue knitting in an integral manner around a garment. In other words, when it is possible to knit only one portion at a time so that work must be suspended on one or more portions. In such cases, as is well known, the stitches on the portion'where work is suspended must be held in some manner until the knitter finishes work elsewhere and is able to returnV to the portion where stitches are held.

An object of my invention has been to provide a stitch holder for simply and speedily receivingy and holding stitches, to-wit, a stitch holder with an advantage over the old means which involve tedious working of separate stitches and loss of time.

By means of my invention I have provided a stitch holder having a' needle welded or otherwise formed thereon so that when it is desired to hold stitches the stitches may be knit directly on theneedle of the holder and then the needle may be locked in the holder or clasp. When it is desired to pick up the held stitches and resume work there is no loss of time or pains-taking eiort required to pick up the stitches, but instead all that is necessary is to open the holder and knitting may be begun immediately to cast oi the stitches from the needle of the holder onto the usual knitting needle, after which work may proceed as usual.

Another object, among others, is to provide a holder in general of the kind described which will be simple to construct and operate and inexpensive to produce.

Other objects and advantages will appear and be brought out more fully in the following specication, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the holder of a preferred form of my invention with a plurality of stitches shown held thereon.

Fig. 2 is a similar View of the holder showing the use of a holder in open condition in combination with an ordinary knitting needle in transferring stitches.

Referring more particularly to the drawing in which I have selected a preferred form for illustrating the principle of my invention there is shown a holder I such as a single section, strand or length of wire having a stationary side, member or holder II which is round or bowed as at I2 by bending the length of wire on itself. A needle portion I3 comprises the other side or member with tapered ends and may have a diameter I4 which is enlarged relative to the diameter of the stationary member II and the needle or needle portion I3 is welded at one of 'itstapered ends to the stationary member II.

'I'he stationary member II is provided with a locking element I5 clamped thereon as at I6 on the other rounded or bowed end I'I of stationary member II. The locking element vI5 has a channelmember I8 for receiving and holding the "needle portionv I3 Vat its free tapered'V end.

The holder just described may be used with other kinds of knitting needles, a straight knitting needle I9 having head 20 being'illustrated in Fig. 2. K

Various sizes of knitting needles may be welded in the holders. y ,4

vIn* theart of knitting, it will be understood by those skilled in the art particularly, that there are times when it is necessary to hold stitches because it is.I necessary' to break up work, for example, in two or three portions of the garment to be knitted andv t'owork the portions zseparately.` In such cases heretofore it has been customary, when desired to hold stitches, to knit the stitches, to be held, onto string and then to tie a knot in the string to hold the stitches. Thereafter the knitter may work on another part of the garment, and when that work is finished may return to the held stitches. In such cases it has been customary to cut the string and then to knit the held stitches onto a knitting needle before resuming the knitting proper.

Fig. l illustrates the preferred form of holder of my invention, with its needle portion inserted through loops of knitting and in closed condition, functioning to hold the stitches on the holder until it is desired to work said stitches.

By my invention, for example, when a knitter is knitting a sweater from the bottom up, and when the knitter comes to the bottom of the familiar V shaped neck portion of the sweater to be knit, it will be obvious that both sides of the V shaped opening cannot be knit at the same time and it is necessary to hold stitches on one side while the other side is being knit. When one side has been knit, the knitter may return to the held stitches and pick them up and resume the knitting. The old system has had disadvantages in causing unnecessary work and loss of time. For example, time has been lost in arranging to hold the stitches because it has been necessary to use a thread or string on a needle, and work the needle through the stitches to be held merely for the purpose of holding them, and then to knot the string, to tie the held stitches. Then when it has been desired to cast off the held stitches it has been necessary to Work the knitting needle through each stitch on the string which course, as is well known to those skilled in the art, is a tedious and time-Wasting and pains-taking procedure.

According to the principle of my invention this tedious time-Wasting procedure is eliminated. When itis desired ,to hold stitches thestitches may be knitionto-ithe needle portion of mystitch holder from o-ne of the usual knitting needles, and if necessary the stitches may be Worked around the bowed portion of the holder and ont-o the stationary portion up to the locking element, land when the stitches to be held have been Worked onto the holder the holder may beclosed, and thus the previous tediousness and 'waste of time has been eliminated. Further, when it is desired to cast oi the hel-d stitches it is notl necessary 'to `go through vthe tedious time-,taking course of working a needle through -each .of the stitches on astring, forexample, `Whi-ch s .a labor whose-difficulty only those familiar Withthe art apprecia'te.fully. All that is'necessaryeisto open the `holder :and the held stitches maybe cast off by merely Vknitting them from the ineedlezportion'of the holder onto one` of vthe-usual knitting needles. Thus knittingmay be begun instantly withoutloss of time. seenth-at there is no impediment to the stitches, tobeheld, Working'their Way around practicallythezentire-area of the holder, and it Will-thus be manifest that `the'holder Will have the advantage of accommodating a great num-ber of stitches.

Fig. 2 illustr-ates h-ow simply theheld `:stitches may -be rcastfoi "from the holder immediately onto.theordinaryknittinglneedl'e and 4thus vknitting is .permitted .irnrnediat-ely as desired without loss of time'ormreliminaryoperations.

`While I have illustrated anddescribed the preferred :form :of construction for carrying'my invention intoeffeotrthis is capabl-e of variation'and .It will valso be f modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not Wish to be limited to the |precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself to such variations and modications as come Within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1.,.In astitch holder a..stationary supporting rmemberrhaving a rounded portion bent therefrom as a single portion, a knitting needle supfported on said stationary member, locking means 'mounted on said stationary member, said needle being of an enlarged diameter relative to said stationary member, and said needle being adapted to'be l-ocked by said locking means whereby stitch-esmay vbe Worked on the needle and around the area. of the holder to the locking 'member and held thereon.

2. Inra stitch holder. a stationary member .com-

v.prising asingleistrand having vrounded Y 'end portions, a needle supported .bysaidstationary memberfand formed .as ,a slightly enlarged continuationthereo'f, alocking element. supported by said stationary member, .said 4needle member .being adapted vto`be locked by said locking, element, whereby .stitches Jmay be worked on the needle member andmaround the area vof the holder to the locking member and held thereon.

3. `In a Astitch holder` a stationary member having Irounded ends, an-eedleportion with tapered ends .welded .to said stationary member, said needle `portionhaving a diameter which is enlarged relative to the'diameter of the station- ,ary member, a lockingelement having a channel member fmounted'on said "stationary member, the needle member being adapt-ed to be locked by the .locking Amember, 'whereby 4stitches maybe worked `on .the .needle 'member `and Aaround the area ofthe holder'to kthe locking member and held thereon.

FLORENCE E. CRUMB. 

